Today was the first day of school for Evelyn and Claire, the very, very first time Claire has ever been away from me for more than a few hours. It was incredibly bittersweet, as it should be, but the girls handled it like champs without a single hint of a tear as I dropped them off.

(Glad to know they aren't too dependent on me, I guess!)

Anxiously awaiting a ride on the school bus.

It started last night when I took Claire and the rest of the kids to the Kindergarten Curiosity where we dropped off supplies, met with the teacher (who was Evelyn's kindergarten teacher--yay!!) and took a bus ride around the block. Once we got home, everyone had a quick bath and a bowl of ice cream while I read a chapter in one of their books. While they technically made it to bed on time, there was just a little too much excitement to fall asleep. Like, it took an hour or so before everyone calmed down.

They're home!

Once I dropped off the older girls, it was just Kate, Henry and me. At first, Kate wasn't a fan of being left behind but quickly warmed up to the idea. She got to ride in the basket of the shopping cart without competition, the Legos were all hers, Nova had her undivided attention AND she got to watch whatever television show she wanted. By the time her sisters hopped off the bus, she was super excited to have them back.

Movie night!

It was a tiring day for me too (on top of being a bit emotionally drained, somehow the laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning all landed on the same day...), so instead of our usual homemade pizza and movie night, I cut up veggies and fruit, made our favorite cream cheese fruit dip and put out hummus with pita chips. Everyone was happy.

I'm amazed how quickly these little babies grow up into independent, intelligent, clever, beautiful people. Having great teachers is a huge blessing too--Evelyn assures me her teacher is incredibly funny, which is important to kids, and Claire's, I've seen stop naughty behavior with a snap, a stern look and a, "No, thank you." Gotta hand it to those wonderful teachers!

28 July 2016

Evelyn and Claire go back to school tomorrow (I know...Indiana has a ridiculous school schedule...boo!) and summer was so short, so hectic, so fun, so amazing. Here's some of the stuff that kept us busy these past few months of bliss...

27 July 2016

I had planned this evening to go running after tidying up the kitchen following dinner, then having Jack help me put up some ceiling planks in the computer room before sending the kids to bed and unwinding while watching a show or two.

Instead, we rode on a gondola in downtown Indy.

Henry really, really wanted to get in the water.

We parked about a quarter of a mile away and Jack hurried off with the kids to get a head start, while I stuffed my purse under the seat and grabbed a bottle of water.

"Did you pay the parking meter?" I yelled.

"Yeah! C'mon!" Jack replied.

We made it to the gondola with fifteen minutes to spare before our departure, when Jack turned to me and asked, "Did you pay the parking meter?"

Apparently, he thought I was asking if he'd grabbed a water.

I got my evening run in after all.

A co-worker of Jack's lives on the canal and in his free time enjoys giving gondola rides up and down the mile and a half canal while warbling classic Italian tunes and spouting all kinds of trivia--everything from facts about the gondola we were riding in, housing on the canal, the USS Indianapolis, to the canal itself.

Welcome to the farm!

In Case You Didn't Already Know...

I'm a stay at home mother of three beautiful, clever girls with another on the way, and a handsome, daredevil boy, and wife to a brainy aerospace engineer who, ironically, barely has enough common sense to keep himself alive day to day. I've got an incurable disorder causing me to love all creatures of the animal kingdom and I've a 'To Do Before I Die' list that could easily circle the globe several times.